President-elect Donald Trump has more malleable a mind than he prefers to project. On the surface he seems certain of every syllable he speaks, persuaded by the truth of his every word. But in fact, he is not. He changes his views or adapts his stance as circumstances dictate. On abortion, for example, over the years Trump has been consistently inconsistent.
To this general rule there is, however, an exception. An exception that amounts to an idee fixe – an idea so firmly fixed over so long a period it has become a conviction, even an obsession. Whether this obsession conforms to the truth or not no longer matters. To Trump it feels true, so now it is true.
The idee fixe to which I refer is the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Trump’s truth is that four years ago he, not Joe Biden, won. Anything that threatens this truth, and anyone who questions it, is anathema. It, they, drive Trump nuts. They threaten his identity which is that though he might be many bad things – an inveterate fraudster, a chronic liar, even a convicted criminal – the one thing he is not now and never was, is “a loser.” Trump cannot bear the idea that he would ever lose any competition, including an election, to anyone.
His psychological vulnerability on this issue was in full view again this past weekend, during his “Meet the Press” interview with Kristin Welker. He was calm and measured on the subjects of, for example, tariffs, immigration, and Ukraine. He was neither calm nor measured on any subject relating to the 2020 election. This included the congressional committee tasked with investigating the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. In discussing the committee Trump became animated and his face furious. He especially attacked committee leaders Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney, saying that both did something “inexcusable,” saying that both “lied,” and that both should “go to jail.” As to the rest of the committee, all were “political thugs,” all were “creeps.”
Should we care that Trump has an idee fixe? That on this one subject, the outcome of the 2020 election, his ego remains frighteningly fragile? Yes. For if ever the second Trump administration does engage in retribution, it will be in this one area, on this one subject. It will be against anyone who dared to challenge his conviction that he won against Joe Biden. And against anyone who dared to question anything he said, or did, between Election Day November 2020 and Inauguration Day January 2021.